Japan's Melody Roads Play Music as You Drive

Krishna Dagli writes "The road works by using grooves, which are cut at very specific intervals in the surface. Just as traveling over small speed bumps or road markings can emit a rumbling tone throughout a vehicle, the melody road uses the spaces between to create different notes."

As in

[renegadesx]

An oversized viynal? But what if you dont like the song?

RIAA

[phalse phace]

Watch out... the RIAA is going to demand that drivers pay them royalty fees each time we drive on said road and play a song.

Re:Whimsy

[sfjoe]

Yes, it's amazing the things you can afford when you're not paying for another war every few years.

Re:Tire wear? And more importantly, road wear?

[Solandri]

I'd love to know the secret that makes them think that they'll be able to keep these strips around for more than a year or so.

Maybe they're not built by the lowest bidder?

I remember an interview with the chief engineer of a road construction company. He claimed that if the state was willing to pay about twice as much, he could build them a road which could last 100 years. But if he did that he'd be underbid for every contract and would go out of business. So the state ends up with roads which need to be resurfaced after 5 years and rebuilt after 15-25. Essentially the longevity is enough to span one politician's career in that office. After that it'll be someone else's problem, so why spend extra money on it?

You mean like...

[tjstork]

you mean like:

Space Station [howstuffworks.com]
Space Shuttle [answers.com]

or

Las Vegas [photo.net]

or

Lincoln Financial Field [seatdata.com]

and... yeah, it is cool that the good old USA can muster up a few of these bad boys:

F-22 [defenseindustrydaily.com]

So I guess we're just totally broke?

Re:As in

[sound+vision]

I've seen the word "vinyl" fucked up in several different ways, but "viynal" is by far the worst.

These are annoying

[Gurezaemon]

Ruts cut in roads, or slightly raised areas are all over the place in Japan, with the former usually to provide better traction in ice/snow, and the latter to warn of sharp curves, etc. They are annoying as hell, and noisy. They also have a tendency to wake up my toddlers in the back seat, even when driving quite slowly. Sure, use them for better grip on slippery roads, but just for novelty value? Yet another waste of public funds in a country that is notorious for it...

Re:You mean like...

[Knuckles]

In the end, population wins

Oh yes? Then I hope you have already sent your regards to your new Chinese and Indian overlords.

Re:You mean like...

[loganrapp]

When Great Britain ruled the world, it didn't have thousands upon thousands of tons of instant world-killers.

There's a reason why Russia survived the collapse of the Soviet Union and remains an enormous power. They still had a reset button.

Different world, different rules. Maybe when we go galactic we'll see some power restructuring. For now, power is still in order of the size of your clear and present ability to render the globe a smoking ruin. And it's going to remain that way for a long, long time.

Short term vision.

[MikeFM]

Having short term vision is a common problem among American's and their politicians. Planning for the future doesn't matter - only quick gain does. We'll save a nickle today so we don't worry that it'll cost us a dollar tomorrow. Stupid isn't it? You'd think we're all children.

Re:Mod Parent...

[cralewyth]

You must be new here.

Re:You mean like...

[denzacar]

Space Station: Its called INTERNATIONAL Space Station. Notice the International part. As in more then one nation...

Space Shuttle: Not exactly something to brag about... considering that it was made in the '70s. And that out of 6 of them, one never went to space, and 2 blew up.

Las Vegas: Mafia built Sin City? Sure... a true acomplishment. Why not list crack as well?

LFF: You know the saying "Bread and Circusses"? Half way there.

F-22: Wasn't GP saying something about "not paying for wars"? And FYI Iraq is costing US around $460 billion at the moment.

That is 7.5 F-22 projects designed and built from scratch. Or 898 LFFs. Or 4.6 ISSs.

And that is Iraq alone. Imagine not fighting all those pointles since WWII...

And people keep asking for their flying cars. Ask Rambo where they went.

Re:Whimsy

[asiansteev]

Jumping jacks are an exercise. You're thinking of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacks [wikipedia.org]. And they're called http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrapod_(structure) [wikipedia.org]. Take a look at the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_natural_disasters_by_death_toll#Tsunamis [wikipedia.org] and tell me you wouldn't be afraid of some waves if you lived in Japan.

Re:Whimsy

[Bender0x7D1]

Actually, not only is the "generally accepted" U.S. debt higher than that, there is a second set of "books" [fundstrategy.co.uk] that shows the debt to be much, much higher.

Re:As in

[ncc74656]

Watch out if you switch to a diesel. "I was only doing 4500rpm officer" might not cut it.

If you're anywhere near 4500 rpm in top gear for any length of time and you're not on the Autobahn or a racetrack, you deserve to be arrested. A car whose engine does 2000 rpm in top gear at 70 mph would be hauling along at 158 mph at 4500 rpm.